(Photo: Square Roots)

Creating a sustainable farm with shipping containers

Square Roots urban farm is a project that is utilizing shipping containers to house a farm in an urban area and was co-founded by Kimbal Musk, Elon Musk’s brother. The current farm consists of 10 shipping containers with each one featuring 320 square feet that can produce enough food as a 2-acre farm.

This unique farming alternative can also grow food year-round, unlike a traditional farm that has to adhere to growing seasons due to weather. This urban farming program can work around the weather with controlled conditions inside the farm containers.

This urban farming space is completely customizable to work with any kind of crop and provides the perfect conditions to grow year-round. Square Roots is controlled by an app in which farmers can design the climate that will be best suited for crops of choice.

The app program controls the plant’s fertilizer and water intake along with programming the LED rope lights that replace sunlight. This urban farm is also sustainable with each Square Roots container only using 8 gallons of water a day which is less than half the amount of water a person uses while taking a shower.

Square Roots’ main goal is to expand to other US cities and can be set up in any parking lot. Square Roots is partnering with NYC restaurants to provide fresh produce that is closer to the food source, also providing a secure food source.